"You two finished the entire aisle? That was fast," The librarian spoke in surprise as soon as she saw Adelai and Senia at the front desk where she asked them to meet her after they had finished their work.
The two stood in silence, neither having the confidence to speak of earliers incident. Adelai pursed his lips as lake green eyes rippled with stubborn ignorancethat fixed themselves to staring at a distance.
The librarian thought nothing of their silence as she continued to flip through the pages of the book in front of her.
"My granddaughter's birthday is coming soon," The librarian said, her hand brought up to her face as she looked at the page in front of her, aggrieved. "I want to get her something special but I'm not sure what."
Lake green eyes turned to the old librarian with mild curiosity and Adelai couldn't help but ask, "Well, do you know if she has any current interest?"
This question had the librarian thinking and she gave it a moment to think. "You could get her anything related to what she likes," Adelai added. That's when the librarians face lit up, a thought coming to mind.
"Recently, she's been obsessed with ice skating. It's all she ever watches these days," The librarian noted, and for the first time, Senia finally noticed the book this librarian had been reading lately. It had been the Guinness World of Record related to skating.
"Then why not get her a pair of skates if she doesn't already have a pair? I know a place that sell them for a good price with good quality too," Adelai said.
The librarian sighed, she thought that would be a good idea but still, one issue resufaced in her mind. "That's what I thought too, but she's only 9, and it's hard to find her a tutor who can teach her to skate."
An awkward laugh passed through rose hue lips and Adelai began to think again. Even Senia, who remained quiet all this time felt the trouble of this situation.
What exactly do you get a kid who doesn't know how to skate but wants to?
Tutors barely exist in this city. Specially not something as specific as Ice skating. And the irony of this situation is that this city actually has an ice rink.
In a passing thought, Senia suddenly blurted out an idea that left Adelai cold on his feet. "You know," began the sentence that would soon send Adelai in a jeopardy.
"Adelai actually has some experience in skating before. Maybe he can teach your granddaughter for the semester break."
Hearing those words, Adelai couldn't help but choke on air. What was she scheming?
But the librarian perked up on this, her face glowing with glee as she turned to Adelai with expectant eyes through her lenses.
"Oh that would be wonderful! She'd be so thrilled to hear that. You won't mind, would you?" Those nonexistent lashes batted themselves at him.
The last Adelai had skated was back in his last year of highschool. After that he left everything behind when he entered his college years where he swore he'd never step on ice again.
He was firm with his choices, until this day, he had never even dare look at a pair of skates.
Adelai, with a grim look on his face, was about to turn her down when he peaked at the look on the librarian's face. He stopped.
"By the way," Senia began again, turning to the librarian with a soft smile, "Thank you for letting me use the library the other day, even though it was closed. You really go beyond for others."
And that was the finishing blow for Adelai. Senia was trying to guilt him into saying yes to this ridiculous demand. Through the corner of lavender eyes, Senia saw the faint vein about to pop from Adelai's clenched hand, and she smirked in silent triumph.
The librarian let out a small laugh, the compliment brought a faint blush to her face in delight. "Where is that coming from so suddenly? And from you of all people," She laughed.
It was working. Just like Senia wanted. Adelai felt the strain on his jaw tighten as he played out all the factors on hiw this could end on his favor in his mind. But they all lead to a dead end.
He sighed. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to help the librarian with this small favour. After all, it's the least he could do for the librarian after looking out for him this entire time.
"Yes, I won't mind." Came the disgruntled answer that seeped through gritted teeth but those lake green eyes remained glaring at Senia who stood unbothered beside him. Instead, she returned that gaze with smug victory. That's when the idea crossed Adelai's mind.
"In fact, Senia has also skated before. I think it would be better to have two people teaching your granddaughter, don't you think? The more the merrier," Adelai said. Let's see who gets the last laugh now. But when he glanced at Senia, expecting her seething rage to be directed at him, he received none of it. Instead, the unexpected pondering of thought from Senia as she brought her finger to her lips had Adelai stumped on what she could be thinking at this moment. She didn't seem to decline the idea like Adelai had expected.
Now the two of them were stuck together in this situation.
Adelai had not thought this through. And now he would be spending more time with Senia than he had wanted.
The only person who seemed to be getting something out of this was ghe librarian as she gleefully clapped her hands. The joy on her face was evident and bright, casting aside the sullen mood from both college students.
"Oh how wonderful! The both of you are willing to do that for me?" She clapped her hands, the cheer echoed through the silent library, "Then I will leave everything in your hands. Here, I'll write down the address for the party, and we can all announce the idea together to my granddaughter. She's gonna be the happiest girl in the world!"
With just those simple words, Adelai and Senia couldn't back out now seeing the old lady's expression. As Adelai took the piece of paper the librarian had handed them, he pondered on all the possibilities this could go wrong.